November 21, 2008

Read these articles in Russian here.

Featured topics in this issue: Presidential Term Limits

Changing the Presidential Term Limits

During the period of 1992-2006, twenty-six presidents from around the world tried to change their presidential term limits. Countries such as France, Venezuela and Chile are just some examples.

The Origin of the U.S. Term Limits

According to the U.S. Constitution, the length of the presidential term is four years, and a person is not allowed to be president for more than two terms. In the history of the United States, 15 out of 43 presidents served two terms, with Franklin D. Roosevelt being the only exception.

The Significance of Presidential Term Limits

Interview with Gideon Maltz, an associate of the international law firm Hogan & Hartson, author of “The Case for Presidential Term Limits” published in the Journal of Democracy, Vol. 18, No. 1. “Every single consolidated democracy in the world has term limits. Strong democracies are always going to have it because it is pretty entrenched. The issue is what happens to these semi-democratic countries? They are much more malleable. If they feel like term limits are a core part of what it means to be called a democracy, then there is a good chance that some of them will go along. If they feel, however, that it’s not necessarily part of the definition, then it’s just another constraint that they might be willing to break.”

An International Overview

A rundown of presidential term limits from around the world, as well as a comparison of presidential power and electoral traditions worldwide.

The Presidential Library System

Formally established in 1939 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt donated his personal and Presidential papers to the federal government, the Presidential library system is a national network of repositories for preserving and making available the papers, records, collections and other historical materials of many Presidents.

The Presidential Library of George W. Bush

What can one expect to find in the Presidential Library of George W. Bush a decade from now? Perhaps much less than one could hope for.